Trying…and Failing

I've been working on the fourth and final book in my STUDY ABROAD series, LESSONS IN LOSING IT, for about six months (i.e., FAR too long). This book has given me a lot of grief; I've rewritten it four times now. Considering I started LOSING IT with the intention of writing a novella I'd give away for free as a reader magnet, I did not expect it would take so much out of me, or that it would lead me down ye old path of OMG WHAT AM I DOING I SUCK I SHOULD QUIT WHY DO I EVEN TRY who the hell do I think I am?

You see, I've worked my ass off on THE STUDY ABROAD series. Years of writing, rewriting, revising. The tears, people – they are real, especially when you've written forty thousand words that need to be cut and completely reworked. I have spent thousands of dollars on a professional editor, cover artist, and formatters. I am comfortable saying my books are a solid, professional product that readers (hopefully) enjoy.

But I am not selling many of them. I've spent the past two years scouring every site and every message board, emailing every indie author, asking for advice. They all tell me to put the books first and really hone my craft. I'm doing that. But sales aren't following. And it's really hard to keep plowing *TIME* and money into books that don't seem to be catching on. I'm trying, but right now, I'm failing at this indie author thing.

I'm leaning in, and I'm falling on my freaking face.

I admit I've wallowed in self-pity for the past couple months. Like a giant idiot, I've hoped my books would speak for themselves – that I wouldn't have to do much marketing for them to take off. I mean, I was doing everything I was supposed to, right? Working day and night, writing hooky, sexy books, putting blood sweat and tears into revisions, churning out book after book after book. I have never in all my life worked so hard. We're taught hard work = success. My books are definitely not perfect, not by a long shot. But I'd like to think they're entertaining reads at the very least.

So why am I not selling any books at all?

I've been chewing on this question for a while.  I am nervous about coming off as flippant here, or implying that my books deserve x number of sales just for existing. I (hope) I don't have a sense of entitlement; my expectations coming into this indie thing were pretty low. But I put an extraordinary amount of work into my books; I study my market; I study my craft.

Realistically, I think the answer to my no-sales lies in the fact that I've been working hard, but I haven't been working smart. I've spent all my time writing, which means I've spent very, very little on marketing and promotion. And no matter how well-crafted your book is, it's not going to sell if no one knows about it.

Yep. I have been a giant idiot. And kind of a snob, too. A fearful snob. I hate snobs, and so do you. And I'm ashamed it's taken me this long to shed my fear of rolling up my sleeves and digging into the promo piece of my career puzzle.

I really don't like promoting myself – it gets me asking all kinds of questions. Are my books really good enough to tell people about them? Is my writing solid enough to spend money on Facebook ads promoting it? Should I just consider this series a “starter” series and promote my next series, when I know what I'm doing? Am I going to turn my friends and family off with my sliminess? Will they judge me for writing books with sex in them?

All this stuff has held me back. And honestly, writing – as difficult as it can be – is easier than facing all that crap. Writing is more fun, too. So I've just been losing myself in my books, hoping the marketing/promo bit will just figure itself out and one day I'll wake up to a great review from a big blogger out of the blue and sell a zillion copies of SPANISH LESSONS.

That has literally been my marketing strategy up to this point.

Needless to say, I have not sold many books.

I want to change that. I am going to change that. How? Well. I guess I'm about to find out.

Now that I've finished up final edits on LESSONS IN LOSING IT, I've been dedicating the bulk of my day to marketing and promo stuff. Before, I'd always put my writing first. That usually took up most of my day. When I'd finish with my daily 2,000-word count, I'd be so spent I'd just skip posting on Facebook or interacting on Twitter. I've now reversed that schedule and plan to keep doing so for the next month or two.

Recently on Twitter, I came across the idea – I forget who Tweeted it – that the best way to promote your own books was to celebrate other authors' books and help them become bestsellers. This is so straightforward, but I never thought about marketing like that. I freaking love this idea, because I was a reader long before I was a writer, and I LOVE chatting all things romance, books, tropes, recommendations – it's fun for me. Natural, too, because I read a lot, especially in my genre.

I'm ready to take my indie career to the next level. It helps that now I'll have a whole series to promote; I've also hired a personal assistant (hey, Keyanna!) to help me really push the release for LOSING IT. We'll see how it shakes out. Stay tuned for updates on my progress!

XO,

Jessica

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